I used to suffer from early morning insomnia. Not anymore. Now I have a baby skunk who thinks that 6:30 is the proper time to be awake. After all, that’s breakfast time. Even on Saturdays.
Blarg.
But he’s awfully cute. Last night, we had a discussion about who owns the remote:
Tonight Matthew and I have tickets to see “Comedy of Errors” at the Shakespeare Tavern. The idea was to keep Hobkin awake all day so that he’d be konked out tonight. Have you ever tried waking up a skunk who’s determined to be asleep? It’s like handling a rag-plushie.
Sigh. Anyone know a skunk sitter? Heh.
Cute cute cute! His little pink hands and pink nose! *squeee!*
He sounds like he has plenty of personality. 🙂 Good luck tiring him out…
I’ve been having far more conversations that consist of “who has a cutie-cute nosie?” and “lookit those little paws!” since Hobkin joined us. Heh. It’s just sickening, but I can’t stop myself.
So far, I think Matthew and I are getting tuckered out by Hobkin rather than the other way around!
I’ve been told that skunks (well, deglanded skunks) make excellent pets, but I have no idea what it entails. Does it require more effort/atention than, say, a cat? More than a small dog? Do they live out and about the house, or do they sleep caged? What do they eat?
(Not thinking of getting one any time soon, but I’m curious, and I kinda like the notion…)
Well, so far, Hobkin is giving every indication of being an excellent pet. He’s affectionate, clever, and charming. And, of course, exceedingly cute. I haven’t had either a cat or a dog, so I can’t compare the experience (I’m terribly allergic to both), but we did keep ferrets. Skunks, on the whole, appear to be smarter and less independant than ferrets, and they’ve got some very good instinctive behaviors which make them charming companions–like they have a tendancy of following the human(s) they bond to around, like they’d follow their mother around in the wild. They’re extremely affectionate, usually seeking their humans out to cuddle with and sleep on. They are also litter box trainable like a cat, although there’s a slightly larger error factor with skunks over cats (from what I’ve heard). However Hobkin took to housebreaking faster than most of our ferrets. Although he’s fastidious, so does require that the litter box be clean (can’t blame him on that one.)
He does require a lot of attention. An ignored skunk is a badly socialized skunk. It’s essential to spend as much time as possible with them as babies. The more they’re cuddled and interacted with as babies, the better companion they’ll be as adults.
We built Hobkin a 6×9′ gated area in our kitchen to lock him away in when we’re not around to supervise him, but I hear other skunk owners give their critters free reign 24/7. Hobkin only spends maybe 4 hours a day locked up in his area since Matthew and I have such disparate sleep cycles.
Hobkin’s a vegetarian (like Matthew and me!) And, while they’re considered omnivores in the wild, wild skunks only live about 2 to 3 years. Domestic skunks can live to be 20+ years fed a mostly or completely vegetarian diet. Hobkin eats a range of veggies (carrots, cucumbers, bell peppers, peas. etc.) suplimented by cottage cheese, beans & rice, and a bit of egg for his protein.
Basically, I think they make really fabu pets, but they do require a lot of attention.
If you want more info, I’ve got a website: Musta-lay-day Grove about keeping both ferrets and skunks that has a FAQ and some other details. Plus there’s a slew of information out on the web.